#F1 #LasVegasGP: @GeorgeRussell63 tops red-flag affected FP3 session.
George Russell, #63, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team, F1 W15, Free Practice 3, Formula 1 Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2024, Las Vegas Strip Circuit, Las Vegas, United States. Image credit to Simon Galloway/LAT Images. Russell Las Vegas FP3, 2024 Las Vegas FP3, Las Vegas Grand Prix FP3, 2024 F1 Las Vegas GP FP3 Results.
Russell Las Vegas FP3 – Mercedes’ George Russell topped the time-sheets in a late red flag-affected FP3 session at the Las Vegas GP ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz who completed the top three.
Russell posted the time-topping benchmark of a 1:33.570 to complete a Silver Arrows practice sweep on the C5 red side-walled softer rubber and was 0.215 seconds faster than Piastri whilst Sainz was a further 0.348 adrift of the Briton in third.
The Briton’s effort remained unbeaten as Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll’s AMR24 came to a stop on the exit of turn 12 to bring out the halt in the session.
A red light remained on the Canadian’s T-cam of his AMR24 racer as it appeared to shut down, which required time to remove to ensure the track marshals could wheel the car away to safety behind the barriers. This left a minute on the clock when it was eventually resumed, so there were no further improvements on the time-sheets.
In a quiet opening 15 minutes of proceedings, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was the only driver with a registered effort on the classification; the Mexican said the circuit was “nowhere” in terms of grip versus the end of Thursday’s Free Practice 2 session.
The Red Bull drivers’ C4 yellow-marked medium rubber effort was easily beaten by RB’s Yuki Tsunoda’s lap-time on the softs, which began a long period of circuit evolution as the track again needed to come to the drivers as they circulated the Las Vegas Strip Circuit.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri then brought the times into the 1:35’s, which prompted a battle for P1 in the order between Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen.
Sir Lewis Hamilton, the dominant Thursday practice leader, put his Mercedes F1 W15 entry at the top, posting a 1:34.565, which team-mate Russell beat by 0.09 seconds on his follow-up tour.
Hamilton returned the favour, but Russell went back to the top.
Championship leader Max Verstappen briefly held the head of the leaderboards after spending most of the session on the C4 yellow-branded mediums with less grip – a scenario the Dutchman labelled as “undriveable” – and the Red Bull driver set a 1:34.137 effort, noting the improvement “felt much better”.
But this was rapidly beaten as the times continued to tumble down as drivers opened up their performance runs; Ferrari’s Sainz posted a 1:33.918, then Russell finally beat team-mate Hamilton’s FP2 time-topper setting a 1:33.570.
Piastri slotted ahead of Sainz to take second place in the order, whilst title-contender Lando Norris was fourth overall.
Verstappen, who could seal his fourth world title if he outscores Norris this weekend finished Free Practice 3 fifth and ahead of 2021 title-rival Hamilton who did not set a late lap-time effort due to the late red flag.
Williams’ pairing Alexander Albon and Franco Colapinto were seventh and eighth respectively as Haas’s Magnussen and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly rounded out the top ten.
Haas’s Hulkenberg ended the final practice session outside the top ten in 11th and ahead of Ferrari’s Leclerc who was 12th and Red Bull’s Perez who finished FP3 in 13th.
BWT Alpine’s Esteban Ocon placed 14th in the order and in-front of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso who took 15th and RB’s Yuki Tsunoda who came 16th in the classification.
Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu were 17th and finished at the rear respectively as RB’s Liam Lawson and the aforementioned Stroll split the duo in 18th and 19th.
You can see the full Formula 1 Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2024 Free Practice 3 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2024/races/1250/las-vegas/practice/3
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